Red John is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the CBS crime drama The Mentalist for the first five seasons and half of the sixth. As a serial killer, he is believed to have begun his killing spree in 1998, and has, with his operatives and acolytes, killed more than 70 people in California, Nevada, and Mexico, throughout his murder spree. Five years prior to the action of the first episode, he murdered the wife and the daughter of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), making Jane his dedicated nemesis.